The Week in Feminism: Women Go to Battle

This week didn't get any easier. It seems like guns are everywhere and deadly. It seems like stupid white men will live forever. A few days ago, Sequoia Capital chairman Michael Moritz told a Bloomberg reporter that the reason the venture-capital firm has no women partners is because he's "not prepared to lower his standards" to hire them. Since Stoya spoke out last week about her alleged sexual assault, four more women have come forward to say that James Deen raped them. And the Senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood on Thursday. Because why not? Who cares about where women go to get essential healthcare? Not these dudes! We know. We're sorry—it's the worst.

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Thank goodness for Uzo Aduba. Without her, we might not have made it.

Joy!

1. Uzo Aduba lit up screens nationwide, starring in a live-action production of The Wiz. The show—which also featured Mary J. Blige and Queen Latifah—aired on NBC on Thursday and delivered to the world exactly the dose of fantasy it needed at the end of this sad and scary week, in a version of the Broadway production lauded for giving the story "a sense of female empowerment." Feast your eyes.

2. Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter announced on Thursday that all combat jobs are now open to women. Woohoo! "There will be no exceptions," Carter said in an emotionless monotone that sounded like sweet music to our ears. "They'll be able to serve as Army Rangers and Green Berets, Navy SEALs, Marine Corps infantry, Air Force parajumpers, and everything else that was previously open only to men." Watch it—this is what history looks like.

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3. A bunch of Hollywood bigwigs got together to launch the Systemic Change Project—an initiative that will push for better representation of women on both sides of the camera. The culmination of extensive research, the joint enterprise of Women in Film Los Angeles and the Sundance Institute will involve mentorships, anti-bias training sessions, and a kind of standardized stamp of approval for the companies that are committed to gender parity. So far, Women in Film Los Angeles executive director Kirsten Schaffer has already met with CAA, WME, Warner Brothers, Marvel Studios, Miramax, Lionsgate, and Tristar Pictures to develop best practices.

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4. Lena Dunham launched an online store. You can now throw the feminist party of your dreams! If you're not dismantling the patriarchy one adorable decal at a time, you're doing it wrong.

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Outrage!

1. Michael Moritz has been looking everywhere, but he just can't seem to find a woman to hire. Ladies—so elusive! The chairman of Sequoia Capital told Bloomberg that while the venture-capital firm has zero female partners, he would be glad to have a woman join his team. Too bad they're nowhere to be found.

"Oh, we look very hard. In fact we just hired a young woman from Stanford who's every bit as good as her peers, and if there are more like her, we'll hire them. What we're not prepared to do is lower our standards," he said.

But how hard are you really looking, pal? Have you called Mitt Romney? I mean, he'd for sure have some extra binders fullof women to hand over.

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2. A new study at the University of California Santa Barbara finds that new dads are more likely to take paternity leave if they have sons. The research presented several explanations for the travesty, including: "First, it may be that fathers get more utility from spending time with their sons than daughters. Second, it may be that the parents perceive that paternal time spent caring for boys is relatively more productive than time spent caring for girls."

You can't see me, reader, but I'm shaking my fist at the heavens.

3. Since Stoya accused James Deen of rape on Twitter on Saturday, four more women have come forward to make similar claims about the porn star. Each is a complete and horrifying universe. For its part, the industry has taken surprisingly decisive action. Many of the distributors that have featured Deen in content or promotional material have already severed ties with him. Read about it.

4. The Senate voted to defund Planned Parenthood. FYI: 50 out of the 54 Republican senators who decided to strip Planned Parenthood of its funding are men. Shocker! But keep cool. Obama is totally going to veto it.